Analytical and mineralogical studies of ore and impurities from a chromite mineral using X-ray analysis, electrochemical and microscopy techniques

A wide analytical study of South African chromite ore, material with high interest in ceramic industry, has been carried out. With this purpose, an accurate chemical identification and mineralogical characterization of the mineral and the gangue have been performed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), voltammetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), light microscopy (LM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX). The elemental composition of the sample (ore and gangue) has been obtained by XRF. The voltammetric analysis has allowed to demonstrate that iron in the sample was as Fe(II). The main compound of the chromite ore was a spinel (magnesiochromite ferroan), identified by XRD from the sample, which constitutes the chromite ore. This technique has also been useful to characterize some silicates as impurities in the chromite ore sample. Light microscopy has allowed the detection of the spinel and the identification of a silicate impurity (chrome chlorite), by means of their colouration. On the other hand, the other silicate impurity was identified as labradorite by means of X-ray microscopy by SEM/EDX. Finally, a strategy was developed to calculate the composition of each mineral in the unknown sample. The obtained results were: chromite spinel 82.89%, chlorite 12.79% and labradorite 4.32%.